Rape-revenge

A structure rather than a genre: an assault, then a systematic revenge.

This tag flags content, not quality. Films filed here contain extended sexual violence, and the blurbs say how each one handles it, because the range is enormous and the label alone tells you nothing.

The range

The Virgin Spring (1960) is Bergman, adapted from a medieval ballad. Wes Craven acknowledged it as the source for The Last House on the Left (1972), which is far uglier and arguably loses the thread.

I Spit on Your Grave (1978) is the notorious case. Roger Ebert called it a vile bag of garbage. Carol Clover and later feminist critics argued that its refusal to make the assault watchable is exactly what separates it from the films it gets grouped with. Both readings come from the same footage.

The timing

The cycle peaked at the same moment as the video nasty panic, and most of these titles ended up on the DPP list.